Wine from the Pop Machine: An Education in the Classics from Professors Tom and Jerry

We here at Verbal Infusion would like to take this opportunity to announce that we are highly cultured. "Classy," they describe us. "Like, super classy." We like to think of ourselves as denizens of the upper echelon, purveyors of life's choicest sweets.

Lately, however, our upper crust has been crumbling under the crushing realization that for one of us - me, for instance - 22 years of playing piano, 15 years of formal training, 4 years of concentrated tutelage in music, and 1 expensive piano pedagogy minor are all wasting away inside a fading memory, unused fingers, and a piano-less apartment.

I once attended classical recitals weekly. Now, I listen to Jonny mimic a kazoo in the shower (not that he doesn't throw down a killer vocal kazoo.) I once aced tests where I identified musical works by genre, composer, opus, number, title, movement, and key. Now, I recognize cat food jingles (sometimes).
If I'm going to get back to that beloved haven of snoot to which I once belonged, I'm going to have to refresh my memory, and this time I'm taking you with me.

Whether we notice it or not, we are surrounded by the great works of composers of the last four centuries. Their music is in our waiting rooms, commercials, weddings, and Saturday morning cartoons. These are songs you know - you just might not know that you know them. I intend to tutor us all in the classics by identifying the titles and composers of popular works, those that hum softly in our collective subconscious. If you've heard a tune a million times before but have never asked its story or name, now is the time to learn. And so, for the first entry in a series on high culture in pop culture, we turn to the sources of all our accumulated knowledge: Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbera.

The Tune: Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.

Where you've heard it: There are at least two animated shorts of note featuring the same song, one a Tom and Jerry and the other a Bugs Bunny. We could get into a discussion of who ripped off whom here, but I don't want to, so we won't. So there.

You might not recognize the tune it in its somber and unassuming first stanzas, but you're sure to know it by the frenzy of minute 5:30 in the Tom and Jerry short.

Cat and Mouse

Rhapsody Rabbit

A bit of useless knowledge for you: Evidently, Liszt had less webbing between his fingers than the average person, so intervals that stretched other pianists' reaches to the brink were no trouble for him. As a result, his compositions feature absurdly wide intervals all over the place. This makes his music difficult for Emily to play, which pisses her off. Now you know.

Emily's stupid guide to remembering the title and composer next time you hear it: You're going to have to remember the Tom and Jerry bit. 

1. Why does Tom chase Jerry? Because he's hungry, which sounds like Hungary. 
2. Next, we need to remember that the two of them run around all day with only half their clothes on, which is quite Bohemian of them. Bohemian Rhapsody. Hungry cat + Bohemian Rhapsody = Hungarian Rhapsody.
3. We can remember that it's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 because there are two animals in the animated short. 
4. Finally, we know that the composer is Liszt because we'll remember that I made a list to remember the composition.

So there you have it. We're well on our way to impressing tens of people with our new knowledge, and in the meantime, we can remember that in taking just a few minutes today to note a name and a title, we've tipped our hats to a great composer worth honoring.